Badass Super Stoner Escapes Prison Time By Acting As His Own Lawyer

Published by daws
From http://hailmaryjane.com/

This story is so ridiculous and awesome I can't handle it. First off you have Brain Alexik, aka the Jason Bourne of Pot, casually escaping down a fire escape with large duffle bags just as the Feds bust down his door. His superhuman speed and agility left the cops dumbfounded, and when they search his house they find his stash of super badass weapons and stacks of counterfeit cash he's been throwing around for months. He doesn't get apprehended until 2 months later, and thats where the story should end. But this guy steps in the courtroom acting as HIS OWN LAWYER, gets all the charges thrown out and gets 5 years probation without breaking a sweat. Just a normal day for a super goverment engineered rouge stoner spy prototype. Next time someone try's to argue that pot users are dumb and lazy, send them Brain Alexik's luxurious penthouse loft to get thier ass kicked.

PS- I want to be this guy so fucking bad.

Brian Alexik, who acted as his own lawyer, entered his plea to two counts of possession for sale of a controlled substance and one count each of possession of concentrated cannabis, forgery and possession for sale of a controlled substance while armed, prosecutors said.The case began unfolding April 19, 2010, when Alexik's neighbors called firefighters after smelling fumes emanating from his penthouse in the 400 block of West Olympic Boulevard. Police broke down the door of the penthouse just as the man inside was escaping through a back window and down a fire escape carrying duffel bags.

The $3,400-a-month loft, which Alexik had leased by paying in cash a year in advance, contained sophisticated counterfeiting equipment as well as a cache of weapons, including an AK-47.
Investigators also found stacks of counterfeit $100 bills totaling $15,000, a camera tripod, the formula for a Molotov cocktail written on a wall and a mosaic of the Central Intelligence Agency seal on the floor.
Counterfeiting equipment and freshly printed $100 bills were found in his penthouse unit, which overlooked the U.S. Federal Reserve building on Grand Avenue, according to police.

Story From L.A. Times
 

Greatest Mugshot Ever - and one smart ass dude!!

From: http://www.bannedinhollywood.com/

 

It was a typical day in the life of 18-year-old Art Taylor of Massachusetts until reds and blues lit up behind him while attempting to change lanes without signaling.


The teen pulled his vehicle over without a problem, but when officer Brandolini approached and asked for his License and Registration, Taylor refused.

“He made a quick movement to the center console, and there was small baggie with a white powder in it,” Brandolini said. “He immediately made a movement to put it in his mouth,” at which point another officer stepped in and attempted to stop him from consuming what they expected was cocaine.

The struggle quickly turned aggressive, at which point the officers pulled Taylor from the vehicle and cuffed him… but not before the teen had consumed the entire bag of “white powder”.

Art Taylor was arrested and charged with assault and battery on a police officer, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, refusing to give police his license and registration and was also cited for not using a turn signal — a drug possession charge however was never filed.

Moral of the story? Always eat your drugs, because if nothing else, at least you’ll have an awesome time in jail.
Source: Metro West
And in a similar story, what evidence?

Netherlands to Close Prisons: Not Enough Criminals

by Bruce Mirken
from: http://blog.mpp.org/

For years prohibitionists, including our own Drug Enforcement Administration, have claimed — falsely — that the tolerant marijuana policies of the Netherlands have made that nation a nest of crime and drug abuse. They may have trouble wrapping their little brains around this:

The Dutch government is getting ready to close eight prisons because they don’t have enough criminals to fill them. Officials attribute the shortage of prisoners to a declining crime rate.

Just for fun, let’s compare the Netherlands to California. With a population of 16.6 million, the Dutch prison population is about 12,000. With its population of 36.7 million, California should have a bit more than double the Dutch prison population. California’s actual prison population is 171,000.

So, whose drug policies are keeping the streets safer?

Police seize $1.2 million worth of drugs from Phish fans

From the Newport News, Va., Daily Press

Hampton

By Peter Dujardin |

HAMPTON - Police confiscated $1.2 million worth of illegal drugs and more than $68,000 in cash from concertgoers arrested over three nights of Phish shows.

There were 194 concertgoers and others in the area of Hampton Coliseum charged with various misdemeanor and felony offenses — mostly possessing, using and selling drugs. Some faced multiple counts, for a total of 245 charges in all.

Police were out in force, with 113 Hampton police officers working special overtime shifts at the event, plus another 85 officers helping out from other agencies, said police spokeswoman Allison Quiñones.

Many of the charges pertained to marijuana, cocaine, mushrooms and painkillers.

Police used a combination of undercover and out-in-the-open tactics, those at the scene said. In one case, an undercover police officer offered to sell concert tickets in return for drugs, then arrested the man who tried to buy them.

The cost of paying police officers to work the special shifts — providing traffic management as well as overall security — was borne by Phish and its promoters, said Hampton City Manager Jesse Wallace. Taxpayers did not foot any of the bill, he said.

"It wasn't a free service," said Joe Tsao, the Coliseum's director. "We have police for every event, both in terms of security and traffic and parking. So this is customary, except it's just bigger."

Hampton police had assistance from officers with the Drug Enforcement Agency, Virginia State Police, Newport News and Poquoson police, Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Hampton Sheriff's Office.

The $1.2 million value of the narcotics confiscated was a police estimate of their street value. Police did not provide details of the drugs seized.

Of the 194 people charged with crimes, 46 were issued summonses to appear in court later, while 148 people were physically arrested.

Many of those arrested were out-of-town visitors.

Everyone arrested was first brought to a remote command center — set up at Hampton Chevrolet, where a Hampton magistrate worked all three nights to consider charges and decide on bond. Many of the arrestees were later taken to the Hampton lockup. According to a log at the lockup, there were 83 people brought in on drug-related charges, 20 people charged with being drunk in public and 10 brought in on driving under the influence and other charges.

Some of the people arrested accused local bail bondsmen of gouging them.

With so many out-of-state residents being arrested, bondsmen were asking them to put down the full amount as collateral — money the defendant would get back if they show up for their court dates.

Bondsman Vincent W. Paige Sr. said there was good reason for such a request.

"There's a concern that people will not return from these distances to come to court," Paige said. "If they don't come back, the bondsman will be out the money. ... We're not out here ripping people off."

He added that "if these guys had any scruples at all, they wouldn't be messing with the drugs in the first place." And if someone is complaining about having to put down collateral, he said, "his intentions are not to come back."

Paige bailed out only two people this weekend, dealing with their parents on both occasions.

Albany Takes Step to Repeal ’70s-Era Drug Laws

By JEREMY W. PETERS

Published: March 4, 2009

ALBANY — The State Legislature took pivotal steps on Wednesday toward repealing much of what remains of the state’s 1970s-era drug laws, which have tied judges’ hands and required them to impose mandatory prison terms for many nonviolent drug offenses.

United Press International

Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller signed the drug laws that bear his name on May 8, 1973. This image was scanned from a file print that was hand-retouched before initial publication to suit the photoengraving methods then in use.

Enlarge This Image

Mike Groll/Associated Press

Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry called the strict laws "a failed policy that we can no longer sustain."

The Assembly approved legislation, 96 to 46, that would restore judges’ discretion in many lower-level drug-possession crimes that are felonies by eliminating laws that require a prosecutor’s consent before judges can send certain felons to drug treatment instead of prison.

In addition, the measure would permit about 2,000 prisoners to apply to have their sentences reduced.

The same bill was introduced on Wednesday in the Senate, where Democratic leaders vowed to quickly take it up. But the task now confronting legislative leaders and Gov. David A. Paterson is to reconcile the Assembly bill — which is considered the widest-reaching of the proposals under consideration — with the governor’s plan and the bill that Senate Democrats expect to pass after amending the Assembly bill.

Arriving at a proposal that all 32 Senate Democrats can agree on may prove difficult. “I don’t think we have a consensus right now,” said Eric T. Schneiderman of Manhattan, the lead sponsor of the legislation in the Senate. “But I think we have a better sense of the questions we need to answer going forward.”

Efforts to change the state’s drug laws have for years prompted one of the most divisive debates in Albany. Bills aimed at broadly overhauling the statutes, known as the Rockefeller drug laws because Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller championed their approval, have routinely passed the Democratic-controlled Assembly only to die in the Senate, which until this year was controlled by Republicans.

With Democrats now in the majority in the Senate and with Mr. Paterson an avowed champion of repealing the laws, supporters see this year as offering the best chance to pass a plan that essentially does away with mandatory sentences for drug crimes.

“I think the stars are aligned,” Sheldon Silver, the speaker of the Assembly, said at a news conference Wednesday morning. “Its time has come.”

Before a three-way compromise can be reached, several elements of the governor’s plan that are not in the Assembly bill need to be addressed. They include requiring drug offenders to plead guilty as a condition of being sent to treatment and to be certified as addicted before they can enter treatment.

Another issue expected to be debated is whether the legislation should allow current prisoners to apply for resentencing.

The Legislature has already eliminated the stiffest provisions of the Rockefeller laws, doing away in 2004 with life sentences for drug crimes and reducing other penalties for the most serious offenses.

But supporters of the Assembly bill believe that their plan is an opportunity to finish what began in 2004 and fix a policy that they say singles out minorities.

“It hasn’t worked,” said Jeffrion L. Aubry, a Democratic assemblyman from Queens who has led efforts in the Assembly to rewrite drug sentencing laws. “It’s a failed policy that we can no longer sustain.”

Those supporting changes said the legislation would give New York an opportunity to catch up after falling behind states that have greatly expanded drug treatment programs as alternatives to prison.

“The general theme is states are making greater efforts to divert people into treatment programs, and they’re starting to use prison not as a first resort but a secondary or last resort,” said Gabriel Sayegh, the director of organizing and policy for the Drug Policy Alliance Network, a national drug law reform group.

“If the Legislature follows through with moving toward a public health approach, New York could potentially go from having some of the worst laws in the country to having some of the best.”

District attorneys have expressed concern that the changes would strip them of an important function as a check against too much judicial discretion.

“We’ve achieved a balance where we’ve preserved public safety and reduced our prison population,” said Michael C. Green, the district attorney of Monroe County, which includes Rochester. “I look at that and say, ‘Why do we want to take this system and make a seismic shift?’ My fear is that you’re going to disturb one of those trends.”